Chapter Twenty Nine

It was a Saturday and Cal was working. Ethan had the day off luckily, which he was pleased about because it meant that he could stay home and take care of Lily. She was due to go into Holby for an appointment on Monday and she'd been getting very anxious over it. She'd also been sleeping lots as well but Ethan wasn't too worried about that, he knew that it was normal after treatment.

He was in the middle of washing up after lunch, when there was a knock at the door. He quickly sprinted, praying that the noise wouldn't wake Lily, and opened it to see two surprise visitors standing there. His first reaction was to slam the door in their faces but instead he just stood there with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open like a fish.

"Mr and Mrs Chao," he greeted. "What...What are you doing here?"

"We are here to visit our daughter," Sandra said, stepping straight into the flat. "In you come, Oliver."

"But..." Ethan went to say, as Sandra handed her coat over to him. "Lily's sleeping."

"Then we'll wait," Sandra snapped, lips pursed.

"Sandra," Oliver whispered to his wife, sighing heavily. "Maybe this wasn't the best idea."

"What's going on?" Ethan asked, noticing the death glare that he was receiving from Lily's mother. "Have I done something wrong?"

"It's more what haven't you done," Sandra said. "Our daughter survives cancer and you don't even have the decency to call us and let us know that? Has Lily not been staying with you through treatment?"

Ethan sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to hang Sandra's expensive fur coat up on one of the pegs on the wall.

"Okay, how did you find out?" He asked the couple.

"Your brother rang and told us," Sandra said. "He did the right thing. Nice chap, he is."

"He shouldn't have called you," Ethan said, sighing as if his brother was there. "In my defence, none of you have visited Lily that much at all when she was going through treatment. You came the one time and then she saw nothing of you after that. She may be old enough to care for herself but she still needs her parents, especially when she was seriously ill in hospital."

"It's hard for us," Sandra said, tears in her eyes.

"It's hard for everyone," Ethan corrected her, starting to get wound up. "But we were there because we knew that Lily needed us. She was sick and she was scared. I didn't phone you because frankly, I didn't think you cared."

"Of course we care!" Oliver shouted in frustration. "What a horrible thing to say!"

"We're sorry that we weren't there," Sandra sobbed. "But please let us see our daughter, you can't stop her. We're really proud of Lily and we always have been. We want her to know that and we want to make sure that she's okay."

"Is she?" Oliver questioned, soon changing his tune. "Okay?"

"She's tired," Ethan whispered. "Very tired. She hasn't had much energy lately and she's been feeling quite low but it's all natural, especially after treatment. It'll take her a while to fully recover."

"Can we see her?" Sandra asked quietly. "Please?"

"Take a seat in the living room," Ethan said, keeping his voice soft and quiet, glad that the shouting was over. "I'll go and see if she's awake at all."

Ethan left Sandra and Oliver standing in the hallway and slowly made his way across to Lily's room. He knocked lightly and tip-toed in, in case she was still asleep. She was. Her head was resting on about six pillows and she was hugging her bear tightly. Sun shone through the window and Ethan wondered how on earth it hadn't actually woken her. He shut the door and cleared his throat, gently sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Lily," he whispered and lovingly stroked the side of her face. "Beautiful."

Lily groaned wearily and her eyes slowly fluttered open. She buried her face in one of the pillows and rubbed at her eyes, glancing towards Ethan. It usually took her a while to wake up and gain her energy back after being asleep for so long, so Ethan didn't force anything onto her straight away.

"Ethan," she yawned, rolling onto her back so that she was looking up at him. "What's happened?"

"Nothing," he reassured her. "Nothing's happened. Your parents are here, though, they want to see you."

"How?" Lily sat up in bed, allowing the bear to fall to the floor. "What are they doing here?"

"Cal rang them apparently," Ethan sighed. "I'm sorry and I will be having words with him about it."

"Why do they want to see me?" Lily asked.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and said, "I told them to take a seat in the living room. Come on, why don't you come and say a quick hello? Cal told them that you'd finished treatment so I think they just want to see if you're okay."

"They hardly visited me at all," Lily whispered.

"I know, but they told me that they're proud of you," Ethan said.

"They have never been proud of me," Lily told him.

"I'm sure that's not true," Ethan said. "Come and have a chat with them. I'll stay with you."

Lily faintly nodded and allowed Ethan to help her out of bed. She felt like a right state; she could barely keep her eyes open, she was wearing an old pair of Winnie the Pooh pyjamas and her hair was a tangled mess. Ethan had to remind her that it was her mum and dad though who'd looked after her for years until she moved out and that it wasn't a visit from the queen.

"So what are you really doing here?" Lily asked, as she sat on the sofa between her parents.

"Why didn't you tell us that you'd finished treatment?" Sandra asked, a hand on her daughter's leg.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Ethan said in a small voice. "But would anyone like a drink?"

Sandra and Oliver shook their heads but Lily asked for a glass of water, which Ethan grabbed straight away for her. Lily sipped at it nervously, as her mum told her how proud she was and how she always knew that she'd survive. If her parents had told her of this before now, Lily might've been more touched by their words.

"Why did you never come to see me then?" Lily asked. "I was scared, I needed my parents."

"We're sorry," Oliver apologised. "But we were scared as well. I guess we didn't know what to do."

"But we are proud, Lily," Sandra said. "Extremely. And we're so happy and pleased that you're okay."

"You never said that you were proud of me before," Lily mentioned in a quiet, choked up voice.

"Well we are," Oliver said. "And we should have said it more. We're sorry."

Sandra nodded in agreement and gently hugged Lily. "How are you feeling darling?" Lily just shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what to say. "You're continuing with the doctor appointments, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Lily whispered. "I um...I have one on Monday."

"That's good to hear," Sandra said, with a small smile. "I love you so much, Lily."

"Yeah," Oliver put in and placed an arm around Lily's shoulder. "We both do."

The story is almost finished. Sorry for the long wait in an update, I've been trying to think of how to write the last few chapters but I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve now x